An introduction to dream interpretation

A guest article by Mick Frankel

Are you interested in dreams and dream interpretation?

If so, then I hope that you'll find this article useful. I'll try to give you an insight into the method that I use for dream interpretation.

There are many, many ways to interpret a dream. Whatever your approach, your aim should always be to try to help the dreamer to understand their dream.

Is this article for you?

But before I start, I'd just like to ask some questions first. Do you keep a dream notebook by your bedside? If not, would you be willing to write down your dreams as you remember them? Would you then be willing to review your dream notebook every so often?

If this doesn't sound possible to you then this article is not for you at the moment.

Any dream interpreter will tell you that the only way to begin to understand the language of dreams is to work on getting to know your own dreams.

And just like learning any language, there are no short-cuts. When you learn a foreign language, you have to be patient with yourself and start with basic vocabulary and grammar. Then you can gradually build up forming sentences until sooner or later you find that you can express yourself adequately in the language.

The best way to learn a foreign language is to spend time with people who speak the language.

I'm not saying that I'm fluent in the language of dreams. I'm still learning but hopefully I can give you an introduction into a method that seems to work for me. If this helps you to find your own way then I'll be delighted.

A Step-By-Step Approach

I find that a very useful guideline for dream interpretation, especially at first, is to take everything in the dream to represent an aspect of the dreamer.

For example, if the dream involves the person travelling in a car with their uncle, then the car represents some aspect of the person's life, and the uncle also represents a part of the person. This isn't the only way to interpret dreams, but it's a very good starting point, I think.

Here's the step-by-step approach that I use.
I hope that by going through the example and then trying the exercise you'll start to get a feel for what's involved in trying to interpret a dream, whether it's your own or someone else's.

Step 1 - Get Into It

Before you can interpret a dream you have to read it very thoroughly. Or if someone is telling you their dream, you have to understand it thoroughly. Sounds obvious but it's easy to miss this out.

Imagine that you're a lawyer looking at a crucial piece of evidence. You have to be completely on top of the material before you can cross-examine the witness.

If the dream is sent by e-mail or on Dream-O-Rama, I like to print the dream out and make hand-written notes on the page. Other people might prefer to copy the dream and make notes using the computer. That's fine. Find a method that you feel comfortable with.

Whatever you prefer to do, you must end up being able to describe what happens in the dream, at least in outline, without referring back to your notes.

In other words, you have to get into the dream.

At this stage, don't think too much about interpreting the dream. Your priority is to understand what takes place in the dream story.

Here's an example that uses a section from one of my own dreams. I'll use this dream to show you the next steps in practice. I'll ask you to do an exercise later, for the moment just read the dream.

I'm walking along and witness an accident between an orange sports car going very slowly on the wrong side of the road and a taxi.

Step 2 - Making Notes

Once you've got your own copy, highlight or underline key words and phrases. Underline any name that appears in the dream. People's names, place names, the name of a hotel, anything like that. Sometimes a name is a play on words. You may well find that your creative mind loves to put puns in your dreams!

See if you can spot any connections between different parts of the dream story. Is there a thread running through the dream? Is there a main theme? A secondary theme?

Is the dream in sections? Often people say, "And then it all changed and…"

Make a note of any separate sections in the dream. In my experience, you'll often discover that the dream is made up of at least 3 sections.

See if you can find something in the dream that might give you a clue as to what the dream might be about and the direction that your interpretation might take. But don't worry if nothing jumps out at you.

During this step, make sure that you also make a note of any feelings that you get from the dream and if these feelings change during the dream story.

Here's the example dream again, this time with some notes added.

I'm walking along (steady, independent progress) and witness (objective, detached) an accident (clash, unexpected event, shock) between an orange sports car (out-going, showy, enjoying life) going very slowly (feels odd, paradoxical) on the wrong side of the road (something doesn't quite fit here, feels strange) and a taxi (opposite of sports car, passive, relies on passenger giving directions).

Step 3 - Questions, Questions, Questions

Even if it's your own dream, prepare at least 3 questions that you'd like to ask the dreamer to help you to understand the symbolism in the dream.

In fact, this step is especially useful in helping you to interpret your own dreams.

Try to ask open questions. That's to say, questions that invite more information rather than closed questions that look for a yes/no answer.

Here are examples of some of the questions that I'd ask myself about the sports car/taxi accident dream.

After thinking about these questions and others, I thought that this dream might have been about me struggling to reconcile the outgoing side of my nature (represented by the orange sports car) with my more passive, supportive side (represented by the taxi). I think the dream was showing me that, at the time of the dream, the two sides were moving in opposite directions and that there was a potential clash.

Now it's time for you to have a go at using this step-by-step process to make a start at analysing another of my dreams.

Exercise Number 1

Let's try an exercise.
I'm going to write out a dream from my own dream notebook. It's quite a short dream.
You are the dream interpreter. See if you can apply my step-by-step method.

You won't need to give a full interpretation. The aim of this exercise is to get to know the process. This is much more important than the end result.

In this exercise, please don't think that there's a right answer or a wrong answer. What I think the dream is about is not important in this case. It's an opportunity for you to try out for yourself the method that I've described.

Please take at least 5 minutes to print the dream out or copy it somewhere and make your notes. Try to prepare at least 3 questions that you'd want to ask me in order to help you to interpret the dream. Try not to be thinking too much about a specific interpretation yet. Just get some ideas about the context of the dream. What do you think it could be about?

You should aim to write at least one sentence giving your ideas about possible themes contained in the dream.

Here's the dream:

Talking to Ashley in his kitchen about what we really want.
He changes tone and confides, "I want to be a boy".
I say, "You are a boy."

Have you printed it out or copied it somewhere? Did you make any notes? Have you written out 3 or more questions?

If so, well done.
If not, please try it.

Remembering that Ashley in the dream represents an aspect of the dreamer, let's look at some possible approaches to interpreting this dream.

Basic notes

Your copy of the dream should at the very least look something like this:

Talking to Ashley in his kitchen about what we really want. He changes tone and confides, "I want to be a boy". I say, "You are a boy."
Hopefully you've written much more of your own notes as well.

Questions

Well, one question that must be on your list is, "Who is Ashley?"

You need to find out what Ashley represents to the dreamer. Sometimes it's awkward to ask directly, "What does Ashley represent to you?"

I find that these questions work well with myself and with others:

You'll find that a character in a dream suddenly comes to life and you start to see what they might represent to the dreamer.

Try to avoid leading questions. A leading question is one that anticipates its answer. For example, "Is Ashley a very creative person?" is quite awkward to answer. I might say, "In his own way, yes." What have you learnt? Nothing really. "Is Ashley your brother?" is not that good a question either.

How about something like, "How did you meet Ashley in real life?" or "How do you know Ashley?"
This kind of question would get me to talk about the character in the dream and my relationship with him. Remember that your aim is to try to discover what the character in the dream might represent to the dreamer.

Another very good question to ask is, "How did you feel in your dream?"

The emotional tone of the dream gives you a huge clue as to the potential meaning of the dream. Once you can describe the feelings in your dreams, you will have made a big step towards being able to interpret your dreams.

Hopefully, your list of questions will include versions of some of the questions that I've mentioned.

Some possible approaches

Did you start to look at a possible approach to interpreting the dream? Very well done if you got this far!

Context
You could start by looking at where the dream takes place. A kitchen. A place where food is prepared. Preparing food means nourishing yourself and others.

In dreams, physical images often correspond to emotional and spiritual parallel images. So nourishing means nourishing yourself spiritually. Food in dreams often refers to the way in which you nourish yourself spiritually.

There could be a more literal meaning as well. Perhaps the kitchen refers to something about diet or nutrition. It's easy to overlook this aspect when you're only looking for emotional and spiritual parallels.

You did well if you noticed that the kitchen context was important.

Dialogue
Perhaps you took the phrase, "To be a boy" and said that this dream is about masculinity and traditionally "male" attributes. Yang energy. Very good.

Or perhaps youth? Revisiting values from childhood maybe? Excellent.

Maybe you even thought that what I heard as, "To be a boy" could have been, "To be a buoy". Then you developed the image of floating in the water element which often represents the dreamer's feeling life.

If so, then I think you've done this sort of thing before! Superb stuff!

Names
Maybe you looked at the name Ashley and started to break it down.

Ashley starts to become an interesting name.

If you took this approach then you did really well.

Emotional Tone
If you were looking for an emotional content to the dream, one word might well have jumped out at you. "Confides".

Those of you who did Latin at school can at last find a use for it because you might be able to recognise the root meaning of many English words. Most words containing "fid" have to do with trust.

This gives you a hint that the dream might be about trust and telling the truth.

Other Approaches
If you found other approaches then that's great! The aim is to get familiar with the process rather than try to get the right answer.
In fact, there is no right answer!

What's Next?

If you've enjoyed this article and you're starting to get what might be called that "Aha!" feeling, then please take your time and try to start to get to know the language of your own dreams.

Keep a dream notebook by your bedside and try to write down anything that you remember from the night's dreams. Often, writing down even the slightest detail, such as a colour or a sound, is enough to help you to remember more and more about your dream. Sometimes, you'll find that during the day you'll remember something that you dreamt about. Try to write it down if you can and copy it into your dream notebook later.

The process of writing out your dreams is a crucial step towards understanding your own dreams. You may well find that you start to notice themes that re-appear. I think that these themes are highly individual and have a special meaning for you. For example, I often dream about playing or watching football.

Visit a dream message board and see if any of the interpretations strike a chord with you. Read through any new postings when they appear and try to apply the method that I've described. Just to see if you're starting to get a feel for it. Take your time and make sure that you get plenty of practice by working hardest of all on your own dreams.

And when you feel ready, why not post some ideas of your own?

One final word. Working with dreams is very powerful and shouldn't be taken on lightly. Those of us who are familiar with working with the I Ching will know all about the fact that synchronicity and coincidences seem to appear when you begin to work with the Yi.

Working with dreams is exactly the same. By starting to look at your own dreams you're making contact with a very deep part of yourself and lots of people have told me that they start to experience feelings that they've never felt before and that the most extraordinary coincidences have started to occur in their life once they began to work with the own dreams.

Thanks for reading this far and for having a go at the exercise. I hope it was useful to you. Please drop me a line if you have any questions or comments.

Lastly, many thanks to Dharma for all her help in reviewing and refining this article.

I Ching dream analysis articles